Help for English Students

Practising Short Responses

Section One of Paper One is a great opportunity to gain marks quickly for a small amount of writing. Knowing how to address questions quickly and accurately can really save you precious exam time and save your poor writing hand as well. The best way to get good at these types of questions is to practise.

A few tips before you start:

Tone is usually an emotion. The tone of a piece is NEVER “depressing” but it might be meloncholy or even just sad. The other way to think of tone is in terms of tone of voice. If the piece was to be read aloud, what kind of voice would the reader use?

The word HOW in a question is asking you to identify a technique. EG Q: How does the composer create this tone? A: The composer creates a nostalgic tone through the use of the garden seat as a metaphor for the old man’s life <insert supporting quote here>.

Each mark in a question equals one thing that the question wants. If it’s a three mark question it wants three things, it’s up to you to identify what those three things are. The exception is the last question which is usually worth five or six marks. This should be a mini essay.

Non-Fiction: Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
It may be asked how far I extend the doctrine of the modification of species. The question is difficult to answer, because the more distinct the forms are which we consider, by so much the arguments in favour of community of descent become fewer in number and less in force. But some arguments of the greatest weight extend very far. All the members of whole classes are connected together by a chain of affinities, and all can be classed on the same principle, in groups subordinate to groups. Fossil remains sometimes tend to fill up very wide intervals between existing orders.
Organs in a rudimentary condition plainly show that an early progenitor had the organ in a fully developed condition; and this in some cases implies an enormous amount of modification in the descendants. Throughout whole classes various structures are formed on the same pattern, and at a very early age the embryos closely resemble each other. Therefore I cannot doubt that the theory of descent with modification embraces all the members of the same great class or kingdom. I believe that animals are descended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants from an equal or lesser number.

Questions

What is the purpose of this extract? (1 mark)

Which aspect of Belonging is being discussed? (2 marks)

What are the connotations of Darwin’s ideas for human communities? (3 marks)